


A Sky Full Of Stars

by Tyranno



Category: Superman - All Media Types
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Homesickness, One-Shot, Set Before Lois Knows Clark Is Superman
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-07
Updated: 2015-08-07
Packaged: 2018-04-13 10:45:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4518888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tyranno/pseuds/Tyranno
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>“It's just odd,” Clark mumbled. “Don't you think it's odd? To look up there and see—...nothing?”</em><br/> </p><p>Clark, Lois, and a conversation on a rooftop on Christmas Eve.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Sky Full Of Stars

**Author's Note:**

> Set before Lois knows Clark Kent is superman. And the Title's from Coldplay. 
> 
> I wanted to write this looking at the stars, but I couldn't see them over the glare of my computer screen :/

“I knew I'd find you up here, Clark.” 

Clark lifted his head, surprised. He was sure he'd slipped away unheard. It wasn't that he hated the parties, it just… he didn't know.

Lois closed the door softly behind her, making her way across the roof to sit down heavily beside him. Her drink sloshed in its glass. 

Clark turned his gaze back to the horizon. It looked beautiful. It always did. It was a soft, muggy purple, the mottled colour of a fading bruise, threads of dark blue running through the smog. The buildings shone brightly, like newly painted toys. It was a wonderful city. So much better than he'd dared hoped. (They'd all seen Gotham, after all.)

Lois settled next to him, putting down her drink and smoothing her skirt. She was tipsy, but somehow still managed to act sensibly. She could certainly hold her liquor. “You seem like the kinda guy who likes looking at the sky.”

Clark glanced at her. “What's that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, I don't know,” Lois swilled her drink. It smelled fruity. “Day-dreamy?”

Clark huffed and turned back. 

The night had a stillness that settled his worries. Clark dragged the air into his lungs, feeling the chill sink to his insides. 

“It's not that.” Clark said, finally. “It's just...”

Lois waited. 

“I grew up in Kansas. On a farm.” Clark ran a hand through his hair, smiling wearily but warmly. “Every night when I couldn't sleep I'd lean out the window and look at the stars.”

“Nice.” Lois smiled with him. “Quaint.”

Clark scooted forwards and dangled his legs over the edge. The cold air snaked through his trousers, sharp and clear. 

Lois took another sip of the fruity alcohol, rolling it around her mouth like mouthwash. She grinned at him when he raised an eyebrow. 

“There aren't any stars over Metropolis.” Clark said. “None that you can see anyway.”

“Homesick, space cadet?” Lois's cheeks were flushed red. She giggled. “I can't say I'm surprised.”

Clark nodded, heart sinking. Homesick didn't even begin to describe it. It was like a hole opened up in his stomach, dim but persistent, launching on him in the quietness. He ached. 

“It's just odd,” Clark mumbled. “Don't you think it's odd? To look up there and see—...nothing?”

Lois hummed, following his gaze. She squinted at the sky. “I can't say it is. But then again, I'm a Big-City Metropolis Girl, born 'n' bred.” She sighed. “I kind-of know what you mean though.”

Clark lifted his gaze, try to understand her far-away look. If anything it was… nostalgic. Wistful. Her face looked beautiful in the city lights, shaded pale blue. Her eyes shimmered yellow where they caught the neon lights. 

“When I was eleven!” Lois said like an announcement, lifting her drink. She chuckled at it, like it was a private joke. “When I was eleven, I went to the country for the first time. It was great fun. Can't remember what we did or whatever, but I remember seeing real stars for the first time. Of course, I knew what they looked like, but it was different to see them for real, you know? They're more'n just some dots in the sky.”

Clark smiled softly. 

“I was really weird. Staring out there, staring into the emptiness of everything. The endlessness of it all. All those stars'n we're just one of them.” Lois sighed deeply, from the cradle of her lungs. It was the sigh of a life of hard work, finally taking a break. “I guess that's why I like superman so much.”

Clark startled. He hid his look of surprised by glancing back to the horizon. Lois didn't notice, staring into her drink. “What do you mean?” Clark asked, keeping his voice level.

Lois hummed again. The sound lifted and bounced, tuneless but happy. “When you look at the stars, you feel tiny. Like, really tiny. You're an atom of a germ on an ant's smallest hair on its back leg. And the universe's expanding, so you just feel smaller'n smaller'n...” Lois trailed off. 

A door slammed in the next building over from the daily planet building. Laughter rang through the air like a bell, sharp and clear. Muffled talk floated up from the street, followed by the strong smell of something like hot-dogs. 

“When you're that small,” Lois murmured. “It's almost like you don't matter at all.”

Clark watched her. 

It was almost like seeing her for the first time, all over again. Hair curling at the base of her neck, soft and dark and beautiful. Her eyes gentle and sharp at once. Her form so strong and tense, but so fragile at the same time. So unforgiving. 

“And then there's Superman.” Lois's voice grew louder, no longer a whisper. “Sweeping in, blazing, god-like. And suddenly there's nothing to fear.” Lois grinned. “When you've got him, big and bright, fighting his hardest to keep you alive, you might as well live, yeah?”

Clark nodded. 

“I don't know,” Lois laughed. “I guess I'm drunker than I thought.”

Lois stood up, wavering slightly. She drained her drink in one gulp, sighing contently. “You coming in, Kent?”

Clark shook his head. “I think I'll stay out here for a while.”

Lois huffed, striding across the rooftop. “You're a regular Poindexter, you know?”

“I know.” 

Lois stopped at the door, glancing back. She seemed to soften. “You can take a few days off, for Christmas. Go see your folks. Watch the stars. They're not exactly a world away, you know?”

Clark nodded vaguely. “I know.”

Lois pulled the door open. Her face washed with the warm orange office lighting, the air heavy with the clatter and clunk of the party. Laughter and muffled music floated from the lower floors. Cheap tinsel twinkled from top of the door, alongside plastic mistletoe. Lois stepped in and half-closed the door after her. 

“Look after yourself, okay?” She asked quietly. 

“Ok.”

The door closed with a soft click.

Clark watched the sky. It had begun to darken without him noticing. It was almost eleven. He knew he should be grateful—metropolis had so many more bright days than, say, Gotham. Most Gotham nights were a horrifying blood-red or heavy purple. Some nights were so bad you couldn't even see the moon, let alone the stars. Metropolis was as good as it got with big cities. 

Clark straightened up. He should probably rejoin the party, or many just fit in a few rounds before heading home. It would do the people some extra assurance to see him still about in the holiday season.

He didn't even know why he was stargazing.

What he was looking for you couldn't see in the night-sky anymore.


End file.
